Saturday 16 March 2013

POLARIMETRY - Q12


12) Distinguish between natural and magnetic rotation of the plane of polarization.
Ans: When a paramagnetic gas is placed in a magnetic field it becomes "circularly birefringent," that is, the vapor has different indices of refraction for left- and right-circularly polarized light. For light which is initially linearly polarized, the different indices of refraction lead to a rotation of the plane of polarization of light which is dependent on the magnetic field strength and the pathlength. Where natural plane of polarization is the plane perpendicular to magnetic field.

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